Konoha's New Team
by protoman86
Summary: Naruto is ready to start a new training in order to defeat Akatsuki, a new, strong and powerful team of Elite Shinobi is about to be born... NaruIno - Rated M for language.
1. Beginnings

**Well, so finally after some long vacations I'm back, sorry for those of you who were following my last story but as I said, I wanted to keep it as related as possible to Kishimoto's storyline, at least in terms of characters and stuff like that, this is Konoha's New Team rewritten, obviously I'm not done with it but this time I'm completely 100% sure of what I'm going to write some of you might already know this is my first fanfic and probably my only one at least for now so don't expect too much of great writing, I'm kinda plain when it comes to writing stories but if anyone has advice, be my guest. I'm open to suggestions tho the plot is already set, main pairing is Naruto and Ino, some others might come along the way... enjoy!**

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Chapter 1 - Beginnings

"How've you been sensei...? heh... that's wierd, I'm calling you sensei..."

Naruto Uzumaki stood in front of Konoha's memorial site, a place where a lot of names were engraved over the years, most recently, the name of his last sensei, one of the three legendary Sannins and also known as the Toad Hermit, Jiraiya, or as he liked to call him, 'Ero-Sennin'.

It had been less than a week since Jiraiya's departure, a lot of events had developed as well during those times, Itachi Uchiha was now dead, his little brother Sasuke killed him, or so he believed, and sided himself and his team with Akatsuki, the dangerous organization known for capturing the tailed beasts all over the Ninja nations, now, after years of struggle and battles, there was but one mission left for them, capturing the last two and most powerful of the tailed beasts, the Eight-tailed Ox and the Nine-tailed Fox.

Naruto was well aware of the situation, now that the person he considered as a grandfather was no longer by his side he was vulnerable, during his 2 1/2 years of training with the pervert, he was the one person always protecting him from harm's way until he was strong enough to fight back, of couse Naruto had the Kyuubi's chakra as a weapon, but it was too risky to use every single time they were in trouble, Jiraiya knew this firsthand, every time Naruto let his emotions get the best of him, he became a threat to everyone around him, that's one of the things he learned when 'he' fought Orochimaru using the power of four of the nine tails.

Deep down he felt guilt overwhelming him, even after his friends assured him that everything was fine and he had to move on, he felt like he should've been there to help him, make him switch places if necessary, he was getting tired of losing his precious people, he wanted to do something about it, and the only reasonable thing to do was to train harder and become stronger than anyone, not for revenge, no, he was in no way like Sasuke, but to protect everyone else around him.

Still unaware of the small water droplets that started falling around the village, he stood there, still thinking 'what if...', 'if only...' until he heard small footsteps behind him, just his luck. this was his third time coming to the memorial stone and somehow, he managed to do it when nobody else was around, that way he could honor Jiraiya's memory on his own, without any of his friends becoming witnesses of his pain, now it was time to leave.

"Naruto?" said a feminine voice, familiar to him, not Sakura's similar but not hers, definitely not Hinata's, she was too shy to have such a deep voice, and TenTen's voice was almost like Moegi's, not deep enough to sound as a grown up woman, this last thought made Naruto smirk a little. His last option was probably the accurate one, his back was still turned to the female who had called his name, then he slowly turned his head, letting one side of his face show, his cerulean orb focused on the figure behind him, she was tall, not as tall as him though, her body was covered by a large grey cape only showing the tip of her boots, her blode hair covered by the cape's hood, a small portion of her hair covering her right eye, her visible eye was aqua colored.

"What are you doing here Ino?" there was a small feeling of annoyance on his voice, she felt it immediately, this was not like Shikamaru's at all, it was his nature towards everyone to answer like he was annoyed, this was different, it could make anyone feel like a pushover.

"I came to visit Asuma-sensei" she proceeded, carrying a small bouquet of roses with her, trying to ignore the tone in his voice, she walked next to him, trying her best not to look at his face, then she layed the bouquet on top of the stone and took a step back. For a moment the silence was perfect, both said their prayers and then Naruto started walking away, Ino noticed and turned around to face his back.

"Wait... where-"

"To train... I have no time to waste..."

He continued walking, never turning back to face the blonde kunoichi, Naruto didn't like being rude with people, but the Yamanaka girl really annoyed him, she was just another Sasuke fangirl in his eyes, not a partner, not a teammate, not a friend, not a thing, just a bothersome person, one he didn't want to relate to whatsoever.

On the other hand, Ino felt sad, rejected mostly, after her knowing of the Toad Sannin's death, she decided to try to be nice and more thoughtful of him, of all the Rookie Nine and Gai's team, everyone was a close friend to Naruto but her, they never talked, not that they had to or felt like it, bust in all honesty, she was never there for him at all, sure she healed him after his battle with Kakuzu but the rest of her memories with him were almost none... almost.

Naruto was now out of sight, he dissapeared in the small woods near the memorial site, not even his footsteps could be heard anymore, he vanished leaving Ino in the rain. After a few seconds Ino smiled sadly, still looking at the direction Naruto went to, she understood, she was in no position to follow him or ask him anything, he felt the same pain she felt when Asuma died, she just wanted to be left alone, still, her pain only lasted a few days, Naruto had completely changed over a month, maybe it was because he was and orphan, he started constructing his own family with all the close people he knew, Jiraiya was his grandfather, his loss was a huge blow to him.

"... I guess I'm the only person out of his family... right sensei?"

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Naruto kept walking under the rain, he was on his way to the training grouds, trying to avoid as many people as he could, he was not in the mood for insults, if anyone tried to say anything to him, normally he would just let it slide, today was a different story, he would not tolerate anyone who got in his way, even if it was the Hokage herself.

'The real one is not with them'... those words kept him thinking over the days, now he knew what the Sannin was talking about, his agressor, Akatsuki's Pain. After knowing the details of the battle he felt in trouble, the 'Rin'negan'? What kind of technique was this Rin'negan? How strong was this 'Pain' to actually beat one of the Three Legendary Sannin? All Naruto knew was that there was no way he could beat this 'Pain' at his current level, after all, Jiraiya was still stronger than him, and he didn't want to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra no more, it was too dangerous to use, like a double-edge sword. He only knew one thing for sure, this was his battle, he couldn't involve his teammates or anyone else in this fight, the rest of Akatsuki was no longer of his concern, only this 'Pain' was his objective, if he wanted a chance in hell of defeating this guy, he really needed to train his ass off, without a sensei, this was a tough gig and at the same time, scary, his first time training by himself.

Without realizing it, he was already in the training grounds, now it was time to choose the place and the kind of training but his thoughts were interrupted by a male voice.

"Yo... no wonder you don't have a girlfriend yet"

Naruto spun around to see a masked shinobi with silver hair and a Jounin vest hanging upside down from a tree.

"Kakashi-sensei... what are you doing here?"

Kakashi let go of the tree and turned in midair,falling on his feet, then he walked towands his former student smiking underneath his mask.

"You know, you should be a little bit nicer towards her..."

"You... were following me???"

"Well... actually Tsunade-sama requested your presence right away, she said it was something important..." he said scratching the back of his head.

Naruto just frowned, hearing the name of the current Hokage felt like a knife through his chest, after all, from Naruto's perspective, she was responsible for Jiraiya's death. Not once since he recieved the news, he ever called her Baa-chan like he used to, she was just Hokage-sama to him.

"Well, I'm gonna train so I'll be busy... if she wants to talk to me, she can come here at the grounds, I'm not going there..." said Naruto showing his back to Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed "You know you should give it a rest already Naruto..."

"What are you talking about?" replied the blonde without facing his former sensei.

"Tsunade-sama also feels in deep pain, just like you, I know you blame her for what happend to Jiraiya-sama but--"

"I don't want to hear it..."

There was a small silence between the two, the sound of the wind hitting the trees and blowing the leaves away could be heard for a moment before Naruto continued.

"I don't care if she's the Hokage or Kami for that matter... like I said, if she wants to talk with me, you can tell her to come and see me here Kakashi-sensei..."

"Naruto... this is not a request, you know this is an order from the Hokage, you're no longer 12 years old, if you can't follow a simple order--"

"What??... You'll force me??... Call the ANBU??? GO AHEAD!!!!"

Naruto's anger started surfacing in the form of a red chakra, Kakashi immediately recognized the feeling of it, it was not at it's peak yet but still, it was terrifying.

_"Uh oh"_ He thought _"The Kyuubi's chakra is emerging... this could be bad...!"_

Kakashi quickly took out of his pouch a paper, it was a seal, the same seal Jiraiya gave him to keep the Kyuubi's chakra in control during Gaara's rescue mission, since Yamato couldn't watch his back all the time he kept this seal for his own protection. He moved in front of Naruto at an impressive speed and put the seal in his forehead protector, seconds later Naruto collapsed almost fainting from the exhaustion of the small but dangerous release of the first chakra tail, Kakashi picked him up and carried him to a nearby tree so he could rest for a moment under the shade.

"Are you alright Naruto?"

He was breathing heavily "Yeah I... no... I'm not alright at all..."

Naruto tried to get up but his strenght was almost gone and fell back on the grass, Kakashi grabbed him for support but the blonde jinchuriki shoved him off refusing help, he tried to stand up once again, he struggled but managed to stand without help, his legs were shaking a little so he reclined against the tree, after a minute or so he spoke.

"I'm... sorry, Kakashi-sensei"

"That's alright Naruto, you're a stubborn one after all..."

"No... I mean for letting my anger control me, I almost became that... thing again... if not for that seal.."

"Relax, there's no need to apologize, I understand how you feel..."

"Do you...?" said Naruto looking straight at the Copy Nin's eye with a strong gaze, Kakashi sighed and looked away.

"There's a lot of things I still haven't told you Naruto, but I promise one day we'll catch up, there will be no more secrets"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means what it means Naruto, but for now, I guess I'll go back to the Hokage Tower..."

Naruto looked at him with a confused look, first he said he was taking him to see the Hokage even by force, and now he's leaving, this was odd.

"I guess I can't force you to see her if you don't want to... I'll let her know of what you told me and see what I can do."

"... Kakashi-sensei... are you sure? you could get in trouble... maybe I should--"

"Train instead of wasting time." said the silver haired Jounin, silencing Naruto at once, he smiled under his mask and continued. "Don't worry about me, I'll make sure she meets you here, oh, and don't push Ino away, she feels just like you do, later".

And with a loud poof of smoke he dissapeared out of sight leaving Naruto alone once again, the blonde didn't change his expression ultil after a few seconds, mentally thanking Kakashi for understanding him and letting a small smirk run across his face while tightening his fists.

"She feels like me eh?" he said in a low tone.

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"What do you mean he's not coming??? This is important!!!!!" said the busty Hokage standing from her chair and slamming her palm on her desk, angered by the recent news Kakashi was currently telling her, he just sighed, he knew she was not going to take this lightly.

"Hokage-sama" he said with a bored look "try to understand him for a moment... I know is none of my business but you should go for a moment and take a look at him before getting angry... "

Tsunade relaxed for a second and looked away, she knew Naruto still felt resentment towards her because of the Toad Sanin's incident.

"He wants me to go see him right?" she said in a more calmed manner

"Yes Hokage-sama, he said he was at the training grounds, it won't be hard to notice him, right now he must be training"

"Hnn... He knows he'll be training with Fusukaku-sama in just a few days, what does he want to acomplish by himself?"

"Maybe you should go ask him that yourself Hokage-sama..."

"Yes... maybe I should" she sighed and started leaving the office and then she faced Kakashi again "I need you to find Sakura and Sai for me, tell them to meet me here in half an hour, I'll be expecting you here as well since Yamato is out of Konoha on an A class mission."

"Understood" and then he vanished with a loud 'poof' out of sight, Tsunade resumed her stance and kept walking, making sure to close the door behind.

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"Are you sure about that Ino?" asked a confused Shikamaru "I mean, we're talking about Naruto here..."

"Yes I'm sure, it's like someone else took over, he's... different..." they were both walking on the streets among the crowd with no particular direction, Ino simply needed to talk to someone and Shikamaru was her best choice since he was almost every day doing absolutely nothing.

"Well you can't blame him, he once told me Jiraiya-sama was like his grandfather, his reactions or emotions are just as natural as ours"

"Yes but not like this... when Asuma-sensei passed away we were sad, we were angry... we were--"

"I know Ino" the lazy Chunnin interrupted, Ino looked at him in a sad way, the topic about Asuma was a very delicate subject, especially for Shikamaru with whom Asuma, apart from Kurenai, spent most of his time.

"Naruto was always alone, sure we hanged around back in the academy days but he lacked someone to raise him, he was not as lucky as us... that's why he feels that way, when someone who cares about him leaves it's like someone took his heart out of his chest..."

Ino thought for a moment about all those days back at the academy, her memories about the blonde prankster were so blurry, she only remember insulting him and punching him for his behavior, the guilt hit her like a bucket of cold water, she realized her doings and what kind of a person she was back then, so blindly obsessed with the Uchiha traitor, her so beloved 'Sasuke-kun' that she never noticed who got hurt in the way.

"I was a total bitch..." she said, Shikamaru looking at her almost stunned because of her words, she looked at him and frowned "What??? it's true, I was a bitch back then and you know it's the truth, so why the look???"

Shikamaru smiled softly "You're full of surprises Ino... I never imagined you would admit that"

"See?? So I was right, you also thought of me that way, probably Chouji as well"

"Not as a bitch... just a troublesome girl" he said scratching his forehead a little, Ino smiled at him and then spoke again.

"You know... Tsunade-sama once told me that in this life you have more than one chance to undo your mistakes, you can't undo all of them, but you still can correct some of them..."

"So... what's your point?"

"My point is that starting today I'm gonna correct those mistakes, especially the ones with Naruto, I'm gonna treat him better from now on..."

"Hnn..." Shikamaru smirked "You really are full of surprises Ino..."

"That I know!" she said with a genuine smile "But I better get going, there's a lot of thing I've got to do, I'll see you later Shika!" and she turned around to leave.

"Just a word of advice Ino..." he said making the blonde kunoichi turn around to face him again with a confused look.

"If you're gonna befriend him, don't do it because you feel sorry for him... do it because you truly care about him..."

Ino's smile returned to her face "Got it" and the she ran though the crowd and dissapeared quickly leaving Shikamaru all by himself, he just kept looking at the direction his teammate went and after a few seconds kept walking in his own direction, taking out a box of cigarrettes with one of them poking out and putting it in his mouth, he was about to take out Asuma's lighter from one of his pockets but after a few seconds he thought otherwise and put the cigarrette back on the small box.

"Hn..." he smirked "I guess I'll save it for later..."

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It was sundown and Tsunade was heading to the training grounds to meet the blonde knucklehead, normally, she was the one in charge and everyone followed her orders without question and she was most of her time in her office but today was different, Naruto technically forced her out of the Hokage tower, not once this had ever happened, he was the first and only person Tsunade knew who had ignored her direct orders as Hokage, it was a grave situation, if the council of elders knew then they would punish Naruto somehow, if Danzo on the other hand found out, he could use the chance to ridicule her position as Hokage and try to take over, she could not allow any of this to happen, that's why she decided to go and talk with Naruto on his own terms. She arrived at the training grounds several minutes later and found the blonde jinchuriki laying on the ground and panting heavily, eyes wandering at the orange sky, he noticed Tsunade's presence but ignored it and got up once again, she just watched before approaching him, speaking in an angry yet calmed manner.

"And may I know what was so important that you refused to see me when I called you??? I could've put you in jail for this you know..."

"So what are you waiting for? do it...."

Tsunade was stunned, this was Naruto? not the one he knew, there was no feeling of fear or emotion at all in his voice, did Jiraiya's death really affected him this much? she could not find any other answer, Naruto on the other hand with his back facing the Hokage formed his particular cross seal and called forth two shadow clones right by his side, then he extended his left hand foward. Tsunade immediately recognized the jutsu he was about to do, not once she had seen it but the reports of the last battle he had with an S-class missing nin confirmed her fears, it was classified as a forbidden jutsu, she told him to never practice it ever again or he could lose his arms and in the worst of cases, his life. The clones on the other hand started working immediately on the jutsu, one making fast movements to hit an invisible and round formation of chakra in the original Naruto's hand and the other clone adding wind nature manipulation to it, the 'Fuuton: Rasen-Shiruken'.

"Naruto!!! That's Enough!!!!!" demanded Tsunade but her voice was carried away by the strong wind of the jutsu, the noise it produced blocked any other sound around him, the Hokage did the only logical thing to do, she stepped in front of Naruto and started making gestures for him to stop, he looked at her concerned face but kept ignoring her and raised his hand holding now a chakra ball the size of a head with shiruken-like wind chakra whirling around the center, he smirked when he saw how terrified Tsunade actually was just looking at him, then in a quick movement he threw his arm foward with force and the jutsu went flying just past the scared Hokage at great speed and taking a circular motion at the same time, crushing and slashing the ground and the trees in its way, then finally going upward to the sky and dissapearing in the atmosphere. Tsunade was still in shock and couldn't move, the attack was just centimeters from her and she could've been killed if Naruto had not aimed somewhere else, she regained her senses seconds later.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU????!!!!! YOU COUL'VE KI---"

But her words vanished immediately after the sight in front of her, Naruto was on his knees about to hit the ground with both of his arms looking half burned and slashed everywhere, yet, he had a smile on his face before collapsing face first on the grass. Tsunade rushed to his side and turned him around, he was still awake and smiling for some reason, she ignored this and started using her healing chakra over his left arm, the burning sensation felt like thousands of needles but he ignored the pain and kept the same expression, opening his blue eyes a bit more and looking at the Hokage directly.

"Hehehe... you should've seen your face! it was priceless..." he said a bit tired.

"You IDIOT!!!! That was not funny at all!!!" she added some more pressure to the healing which made Naruto flich and almost scream but he kept ignoring the pain. "I have already told you that the Rasen Shiruken was forbidden!!!! Why do you insist in disobeying orders??? do you want to kill yourself or something??"

"Did you see that Hokage-sama?... I threw it and... it went flying..."

Her eyes widened at his words, it was true, she didn't realized until now that the jutsu was indeed flying, last time she checked, the Rasen Shiruken was a close-range jutsu, just like the normal Rasengan or the Chidori, it had to be carried to the target in order to make a hit, but somehow, Naruto transformed it some kind of projectile technique.

"It's not perfect just... yet..."

Tsunade felt relieved and smiled a little, Naruto was truly unpredictable, who would've thought that in just a month he had already used the Rasen Shiruken more than once and actually turn it into a long-range attack? her anger dissapeared just looking at his smile, she was starting to miss his smile and it made her chuckle at the thought, his efforts were actually paying up and she was glad to see that.

"I'm very impressed with what you just did, but next time think before doing something wreckless, you know that jutsu could kill you and I'm not going to lose you too you idiot..."

Naruto now put a serious look while Tsunade kept healing his other injured arm, he looked right at her and his eyes narrowed, she was confused for a moment but then she remembered, he was still mad at her because of what happened to the Toad Hermit, her look became sad as she stopped healing him and he got up without any sign of pain on his body, his back still turned.

"Hokage-sama... If I ever want to avenge Ero-Sennin then I have to perfect this jutsu, I have to get stronger..."

"I see..." the blonde Hokage said standing up as well "But there are other paths to get strong Naruto, paths less dangerous that the one you're walking..."

"Is that the reason you came here? to lecture me about my training? you're wasting your ti--"

"Naruto enough! I'm also hurt because of what happened to Jiraiya! I made a mistake as Hokage! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"

Naruto was surprised, he turned around to speak but his eyes widened the moment he saw Tsunade crying, he was so furious and so focused in getting strong that he didn't even bother about the rest of the world, he was hurting the people he cared about, his 'family', he immediately started waving his hands at her furiously and a funny expression.

"AAAAIIIIII BAA-CHAN!!!!!!! DON'T CRY PLEAAAAASE!!!!!

"(sob)... You... (sob) called me... Baa-chan..." she said calming herself.

Naruto stopped what he was doing and realized what he just said, he did call her Baa-chan again meaning his anger was now gone, at least for the time being he was his old self again, the Naruto everyone knew and loved, he scratched the back of his head and let a nervous chuckle out, Tsunade just dried her tear with her jacket and chuckled as well, then she started laughing and soon Naruto followed her contagious laughter, for a moment it relieved the tension in the air, they looked at each other thinking how silly they both were and after a minute or so the sound of a small breeze passing by was all that could be heard. Tsunade walked foward and hugged him, he didn't respond, he just stood there with a shocked expression but then it changed into a warm smile.

"Never change, you're one of a kind Naruto... never forget that..."

"I.... I'll do my best..." he said with a genuine smile on his face and separating from the embrace.

"So... are we ok now?" she asked in a quiet manner

"Yes Baa-chan, we're cool!" he said giving her a thumbs up.

Tsunade once again smiled but then her face became serious in an instant to which Naruto stiffened thinking she was mad at him or some sort of thing, then he realized she was back in Hokage mode, "_No more playing around I guess"_ he thought.

"Come to my office in twenty minutes, we have an important matter to discuss..." and then she started walking away leaving Naruto once again by himself in the middle of the training groud, he smirked and looked at the clouds raising his arm with a wide grin.

"Watch me Ero-Sennin... I'll get stronger!"

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"So you're finally here..." said a childish voice.

"I'm sure traveling from Ame to get here is nothing for someone who can teleport..." responded another voice.

"Hehe yeah well, what can I say eh? anyways... what kept you?"

"Some unexpected guest, one of the Three Legendary Sannin..."

"I see, so Jiraiya-sama actually managed to delay the invincible Pain, no wonder he's called a Sannin..."

"Was called... at any rate, we're all here"

Deep inside a mountain, the remaining members of Akatsuki gathered in the darkness of a cave with a great statue in the center, this time however, there were no holograms present, everyone but team Hawk was there in person.

"So where is Itachi's little brother and his teammates?" asked Konan

"I sent him to Kumo, one of our targets is there..." said Tobi

"The Hachibi..." said Kisame "Heh... they're gonna have their hands full with that one"

"Probably... I wonder if they can handle it..." added Konan

"They can, don't underestimate them, they were Orochimaru's test subjets once those three, and Sasuke is quite strong himself..."

"You seem to have faith in the Uchiha boy..." said Pain

"You could say that, but for now we must concentrate on the last target..."

"The Kyuubi..." complemented Zetsu "But we can't go after him just yet can we?" "**We are ready, don't be a coward**" said his dark half

"Yes but there has been a change of plans..." said Tobi, the eyes of everyone on him.

"What do you mean a change of plans?" asked Pain "Am I not going to Konoha for the last of the jinchuriki?"

"You're not going to Konoha, but you're still going after the Kyuubi, just not yet..."

"So I'm going to capture him outside of Konoha then..."

"Exactly, it's better if we capture him without getting unwanted attention from the villages..." continued Tobi " Konoha has too many contacts and if we go directly we could get a bigger response from them, there's no need for us to take that risk..."

"Pain is invinsible, he can take a whole village by himself without problems..." interfered Konan

"I don't care about that, these are the new orders, like I said, we don't want to get attention from anyone, we'll wait until the jinchuriki gets away from the village and then we'll strike, quick and simple..."

"But how do we lure him out?" asked Kisame

"The Hokage will have to send him out on a mission eventually, patience is the key here, if we try to go after him right now it would only mean more casualties for us, we've already lost more than enough members so we can't make any mistakes form now on" Tobi then turned to face Zetsu "Did you find out any information?"

"Not quite, I've located several of the laboratories and hideouts where Orochimaru used to work, a total of 17, but somehow his right hand man Kabuto has managed to elude me and I can't sense his presence anywhere, it's like he's vanished"

"I see... looks like he's learning how to use Orochimaru's abilities, no wonder he's so good avoiding us now..."

"Madara-san, not that I care but why are you looking for that kid? he's not one of our objectives is he?" asked Kisame

"Actually he is, but that's not relevant right now, I'll let you all know about it in a few days, Zetsu, keep looking for him and do not report again until you find him, am I clear?"

"Cristal" "**Understood**" said in unision both his parts.

"Pain, Konan, return to Ame at once and wait for further instructions, do not move until the jinchuriki is on the move"

"As you wish" responded Konan, Pain only stood there silent with his gaze on Tobi, this he ignored.

"Kisame, return to the forest hideout, Sasuke and the other three kids should arrive there soon with the Hachibi..."

"Understood Madara-san"

"What will you do then?" asked suddenly Pain

"I'm going to a few places, I need to collect some stuff for what I'm going to do later... we'll meet in seven days again, dismissed!"

And in the blink of an eye, the room was empty, the faint sound of robes moving across the cave was the only trace the S-ranked criminals left.

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**Reviews and suggestions are welcome, anything but that I'm not paying attention XD....**


	2. The Mission

**Back again, I've noticed that a lot of people actually liked and added the story to their alerts but sadly didn't leave any reviews :(.... next time please take your time to leave a comment and not just wait for me to post another chapter, it only takes like a minute of your life to leave a review so think about it ;)... now considering the speed to which I'm currently writing the story I will probably be updating once a month or so, hopefully less time but don't ask more of me for now, I have a life as well so I can't be glued here all day writing just for ppl's sake, this is the best I can do for now unless someone else wants to give me a hand with it, if not, then have patience.**

**... And I don't own Naruto.**

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Chapter 2 - The Mission

Twenty minutes later in the Hokage's office, a Chunin kunoichi and a Root ANBU member knocked on the door to let the Hokage know they had arrived and walked inside with her permission, shortly after that, a Genin arrived at the scene but he was dead serious, whatever it was that the Hokage wanted to speak with him had to be important. Sakura, Sai, Naruto and the Godaime Hokage were now together to start whatever this reunion was about. The moment Naruto was there Sakura smiled, it had been a while since they last saw each other, after another Sasuke rescue mission that ended in failure and recieving the news of the Toad Sannin's departure, it was almost as if Naruto had vanished from her life as well, they hadn't talked because she could never find him, he was never at his apartment when she wanted to visit and he always found a way to elude her when she looked somewhere else, not even Teuchi and Ayame had seen him since that day, he became like a ghost, only showing himself when nobody else was around. Sakura's smile turned into a sad look when she noticed that Naruto was ignoring her completely, a serious look engraved in his face. Sai noticed this as well, even though they had not seen each other since that time also, he could tell by the look on his face that the blode idiot that he met back then was not present at the moment, he was replaced with a focused and strong ninja.

"So what's this about Baa-chan?" he asked in a composed manner, surprising his team but not the Hokage, she only smirked, Sakura couldn't help but smile once again because of hearing him calling her master 'Baa-chan' once again, at least part of the Naruto she knew was still there.

"I could start but Kakashi is not here yet..."

"Late as always..." said Sakura in a boring tone.

A poof later Kakashi showed up in the office with his usual happy look "Yo" he greeted the rest of the team. "I'm here, I'm here... I was just waiting for the right moment since I didn't know if Naruto would actually show up" he said looking at the blonde boy, Naruto just looked back at him not impressed by his words and anwered "Well I'm here Kakashi-sensei so we can all stop fooling around now" he looked back at Tsunade "So why are we here?"

"I had already told Kakashi that Yamato was not here in Konoha at the moment so he's going to be the team captain for this mission I'm about to assign you."

"Mission...?" said Sai quietly.

"Yes, this one is an S class mission"

At those words Sakura's eyes widened, this type of missions were only given to Jounin, not Chunnin, it could only mean that it was related to that very same dangerous criminal group everyone knew in some way. Tsunade continued.

"This is a retrieval mission, before sending Jiraiya to gather information on Akatsuki at Ame, he told me he was going to hide his belongings somewhere near a lake just a few meters away from that village..."

Naruto stiffened

"However..." she proceeded "Jiraiya had them with him before he left Konoha as I can recall and he didn't let me know the exact place he was hiding the stuff so you will have to keep your eyes sharp..."

"Any risks?" asked Kakashi

"If you mean Akatsuki then no, our net of spies over there told us that this 'Pain' character has left the village along with other five nin wearing Akatsuki robes, right now the village is not a threat but we don't know where he is either..."

"I see... what if he returns?" said Sai in a low tone

"Rest assured, he's nowhere near the village right now so you guys can travel safely for the moment, if he happens to show up then abbort the mission and return back immediatly, as long as nobody else knows where to find Jiraiya's stuff but us then we can retrieve them some other time..."

"There won't be another time..." Naruto said catching the attention of everyone in the room. "Akatsuki must also have spies over there, if they see Konoha ninja then they will suspect we went there for something and it won't be long before they start searching as well..."

"Then we must succeed, even if someone strong is in the way..." added Sakura

"Yes but as I said, if any Akatsuki member is there, avoid direct combat, I want you all back here in one piece understood?"

"YES" they all anwered straightly.

"Good, you leave tomorrow morning at 6 AM shap, meet at the main gate, I'll send a back up team just to be on the safe side, Naruto I need you to stay, the rest of you, dismissed!"

And everyone left the room seconds later, Naruto and Tsunade were now by themselves to discuss once again, Tsunade wanted to make completely sure that no one else was listening, not even the ANBU guards at the door, she stood from her chair and performed some seals, then casted an invisible chakra barrier around the walls covering her office entirely.

"There, that should keep this conversation just between us for now..."

"A sound proof barrier... I had no idea you could do that..."

"I know a few tricks that you don't know of, besides, this is a basic jutsu, perhaps I'll teach you someday..."

"Yeah, perhaps..."

"Anyways... the reason I told you to stay was because of something I have for you, something I have been keeping safe for a month now..." she said as she walked back to the chair and took a seat once again.

"Something... for me?"

"Yes, Jiraiya gave me this before he left..." she took an envelope out of her green jacket and handed it over to the blonde boy "He wanted me to give this letter to you at the right moment, that moment is now."

Naruto recieved the letter, still dumbfounded by it, Tsunade resumed. "I've been keeping that letter with me everyday to keep it safe, I coudn't leave it in this office, Danzo and his men could try to break in and those old geezers from the Council are snakes in the grass as well so I kept it in my jacket to make sure no one could find it." Tsunade nodded slowly, as though contemplating the younger boy's expression.

"I know it's none of my business so I'll leave you to yourself so you can read it without anyone bothering you..." Tsunade said standing from the chair.

"No! no no! you can stay Baa-chan!" he said waving his hands at her. "I don't mind, really, and this is your office after all!"

She sighed "As you wish" and took a seat once again "But don't read it out loud then, the letter is for you and YOU only, I don't want to listen to this" she said in a serious tone as she looked at him. Naruto just nodded and opened the envelope revealing a folded piece of paper in it, taking it out he unfolded the letter and was about to open his mouth but Tsunade glared at him, he grinned "Sorry..." and went back to the letter reading mentally.

_Dear Naruto:_

_By the time you read this I'll probably be gone, it was something I was expecting, after all a shinobi's life is surrounded always by death, that is something no one can change, not even a Sannin. I'm truly sorry for leaving things like this, I wish I coud've had more time to spend with you and everyone else in Konoha but things had to be this way, don't blame Tsunade for this, it's her job as Hokage to assign missions to the shinobi at her service, I'm no different, so please don't hate her, remember you are like her grandson and the reason she returned to Konoha. _

_As for the task at hand I'm about to tell you, I've decided to leave my scrolls and other belongings to your care, there is a catch however, I hid them near the village of Ame so no one could suspect, after all if they wanted something from me then the last place they would look for it would be in their own territory, Tsunade was already informed of this before I left and will probably give you the details of this mission the moment you get this letter._

_I know I'm technically asking of you something suicidal to do but it is of extreme importance for you to recover those things, if they fall in the wrong hands then... well I actually don't even want to think about it, you are the only person I can trust for this kind of assignment and also the only shinobi who can learn the secrets that rest within the scrolls so please, make me proud. _

_If you complete this mission succesfully, and you MUST, then you will be ready to learn a few more tricks I was planing on teaching you eventually, but by now you probably can figure them out by yourself so you'll be allright without me._

_Remember you are going to become the next Hokage, it's your destiny, it's a funny thing because I actually didn't believe in destiny but with you it's different, you are destined to become a great shinobi all over the world, I believe you are the Destined Child, I know you are so prove it and fulfill that role, I believe in you..._

_PS: Put some blood under my name._

_Yours truly_

_Ero Sennin_

_Jiraiya_

"............"

Naruto then noticed a small red seal right under the Sannin's name, it was a standard blood seal, a small drop of blood from the person could open the seal easily, the Toad Hermit had designed that seal so only Naruto's blood could open it. As Tsunade looked on, Naruto bit his thumb and pressed it on the letter, immediately the ink on it started melting away revealing slowly a map under it, it was a map of Ame, a well designed one, as well as the borders and the lake the pervert was talking about in his letter, some parts of it were marked with red ink, others blue, the safe route was marked with green ink, the letter continued under the map.

_I've marked some of the parts of the map as you can see so it'll give you an advantage when sneaking around, the red parts are places very well guarded so you need to be careful around here, the blue parts are areas lightly guarded so you can take out the guards there, just Chunnin on patrol duty, should be easy for you, finally the green dots show the safest route to your objective, you'll find them exactly at the spot where I entered into the village at the bottom of that lake, when you find them, burn this letter and return to Konoha immediately, Akatsuki must not know of your wherabouts._

_Be careful... good luck!!!_

"I see..." he said smiling sadly.

"So now that you know what this is all about, are you up for it...?"

"I am Baa-chan, no one's going to stop me this time, Ero Sennin gave his life for the village, the least I can do for now is return a part of him here" said Naruto smiling and with enthusiasm this time.

"That's the spirit, go take a rest then, no more training for today, you have to save your energy for tomorrow's trip..." she replied also smiling.

"However..." he said as he walked to the door about to leave the office, Tsunade looking confused "Once I'm strong enough I WILL avenge Ero Sennin..."

Tsunade's worries returned fast and hard as her eyes widened but she kept silent facing the blonde jinchuriki's back, sudden flashbacks or her little brother Nawaki and her lover Dan returned to her head for some reason, Naruto was the last important person she had and if something happened to him then she would never forgive herself, her thoughts were interrupted when Naruto turned his head and grinned at her.

"I'd like it if you could help me with my training after I'm back..." he said in a joyfull manner.

Tsunade's heart felt at ease once again as she just nodded "Just come back safely... then we'll talk"

"Allright!!! See ya around Baa-chan!!!" he said as he started running across the halls looking for the exit. Tsunade relaxed on her chair as she took a spin to face the window, the sun was already out of sight, stars were adorning the dark sky as she looked on, "_this boy... maybe he can learn something from me when he returns..."_those were her thoughts as she stood up and went to open a safe full of bottles of Sake inside.

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Boulders crushed as three shinobi wearing the infamous black robe with red clouds attacked one single man across the mountains of Kumo, the battle was intense but still undecided as the man of black skin single handedly took on three members of Akatsuki at the same time, the seven swords he used to carry on his back now shattered as he fought only using Taijutsu and to his oponnents' surprise, he was handling himself very well, without breaking a sweat, on the other hand, the Akatsuki members were angered and also confused, how could one shinobi take on them so easily and not even have a scratch? they stood their ground when the man stood tall on a large boulder, his arms crossed and a smirk on his face, he extended his arms as he tried to rap.

"Man you guys are weak!!! you don't stand a chance!! next time you come near you'll be kissing my a--"

"This guy's tougher than I expected" interrupted Suigetsu with his beheading sword on hands "we need some other kind of strategy Sasuke, he's just playing with us..."

"I know" responded the Uchiha "_and he's not using the power of the Hachibi yet... we need to finish this quickly before he does some serious damage_" he though.

"I think it's time we go all out on him Sasuke" said Juugo "If we keep up like this he's going to kill us and Karin won't get a chance to escape if that happens..."

"Juugo, Suigetsu, I need you to keep the pressure on him, I think I know how to weaken him..."

His two teammates looked at him and nodded, then both jumped and attacked once again, the dark-skinned jinchuriki just backflipped out of the way and perfomed some seals in mid-air, then as he prepared to hit them with a lightning-based jutsu. Sasuke quickly used his speed to go unnoticed behind him but before he could land a blow with his sword, he was struck by what it looked like a lightning-based punch right on his face, this didn't stop him as he grabbed the arm of his opponent and used the momentum to launch him with force through the air, the Kumo jinchuriki seemed unnafected as he just regained his balance and flipped a few times before landing safely on the nearby river.

"Gotcha..." whispered Sasuke.

From behind the boastful ninja a huge water wave extended out of nowhere and went right to him, Suigetsu's figure formed on top of the wave as he was the one controlling it, the jinchuriki soon found himself under the water as he felt the pressure trying to crush him but to him this was still child's play, he pumped some charkra into his feet as he was propelled right out of the water and onto the air once again, Juugo immediately appeared over him at quick speed, cursed seal activated and with one huge, monstruos and deformed arm, he hit the Kumo ninja with it, a body shot, he tried to grab the arm to revert the situation but Juugo simply extended his arm and sunk him right back into the river and landed on a nearby rock retrieving his arm from the water, Suigetsu also jumped out of his own wave and returned to dry land near where Karin was standing, watching the whole thing, Sasuke came into the scene as he quickly performed some handseal and he hit the water with a powerful Chidori, making the whole river let out an intense flash blinding everyone there, his teammates just covered their eyes while this happened, seconds later the water calmed as Sasuke took a step back and waited, the others stood behind him.

"Did we get him?" asked Suigetsu

"Not quite..." responded Sasuke "we just hurt him a little..."

"Then from now on this battle is going get serious..." added Juugo

"Wh--What?? you guys did all that and just 'hurt him a little'????" said Karin furiously "I thought we had him this time!!!!"

A powerful blast of water erupted from the river as a figure could be seen behind the curtains of steam that formed, the Kumo jinchuriki was there, his smile was no longer a part of him, it was replaced by an angry look, even with his shades Sasuke and the other could see the anger in his eyes, but to their surprise he relaxed and just stood there, a few meters away, suddenly bubbles started emerging from his body and soon they were followed by a dark red chakra forming what it looked like a cloak around him, four charka tails formed behind him, Sasuke immediately recognized the chakra signature.

"Playtime's over shit heads..." said the jinchuriki "For a bunch of kids you're really annoying so It's time you meet the real _ME_!"

"Ok... now I'm getting nervous here..." said Suigetsu

"What the hell is that????" shouted Karin in obvious fear

"That's the thing we're after, the Hachibi..." responded Sasuke as he activated his Sharingan "He's not using all of it's power though..."

"Then what do you suggest we do? ..." said Juugo

"You guys step back, I'll handle it from now on..."

"Are you crazy??? he was more than we could handle before and now you wanna take on him alone???" Suigetsu said angered

"Just trust me... he's not the only one with an ace under his sleeve..." Sasuke said calmly.

Sasuke started walking towards the water as the rest of his team looked on, the water was emiting small waves wildly towards him, the wind also changed as it felt heavier and hotter, steam was blowing up towards heavens, the Kumo jinchuriki in battle stance, ready to attack at any second while 'his' chakra emitted strange sounds and grew by the second, he smirked once again full of confidence more than ever before, Sasuke kept looking at him, his Sharingan started slowly changing into what looked like a star with six ends, this was his triumph card, the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"_Itachi... thank you..._" he thought as he lauched himself to attack.

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"Do you honestly think he can do this? I know Jiraiya-chan's training helped him but the content of those scrolls are anything but easy..." said Fusukaku

"Yes I'm sure of it, Rasengan and Kage Bushin are also extremely difficult jutsus and he has complete control over those, we're talking about Naruto here, he's no ordinary shinobi Fusukaku-sama, he's the Fourth's son..." responded Tsunade.

"Yes, Jiraiya-chan told me about that once... *sigh* Ok, I'll wait for his return and then train him at home, after all, the things he's about to learn could probably destroy the training grounds of your village Tsunade-chan..."

"I bet..." she said as she looked over the window, a bright and big moon and a beautiful set of stars were reflecting their light all over Konoha and it's surroundings, the night was perfect for some fresh air and a walk.

"There's something you should know..." she said as Fusukaku paid attention "Those fools from the council are really starting to get on my nerves, yesterday they..."

--FLASHBACK--

_"You want me to WHAT???" Tsunade said slamming her palm on the coffee table, cracking part of it._

_"Like we said, as ordered directly by the Feudal Lord, Naruto Uzumaki must be dettained and locked deep inside Konoha's dungeons, we fear that after Jiraiya's death his mental stability could endanger the village as the power of the Kyuubi might be released, the Feudal Lord also agrees on this, his emotional unstability might provoke the village's end..."_

_Tsunade and the elders Homura and Koharu found themselves in a small room with furniture, mostly used for their small reunions, she couldn't believe the nerve, since when did the council started making moves behind her back? she was the Hokage and even if the council had a word in any matter, the final decissions were made by her, not them, she had just recently found out they sent a letter to the Feudal Lord requesting his support on Naruto's inprisonment, using the same excuses as everyone else who feared the blonde jinchuriki, but Jiraiya's death was also a great factor here, they used this event to present Naruto's persona as a very dangerous threat not only to the village but to the whole Fire country, Homura was currently holding in one of his hands an letter with the Fire Lord's signarute and seal for Tsunade to read, it was actually the order both elders were talking about, they were moving the strings without her noticing and it was a big mistake from her side not to do so.._

_"As you can see, the Feudal Lord has already authorized the order and has given him a week to hand over by himself before he's arrested by force..." said Homura._

_"You..." Tsunade said with clear anger in her voice "What are you two planning????"_

_"We're only lookig after Konoha's well being Tsunade-hime, you're keeping him and everyone in Konoha as sitting ducks for Akatsuki as long as Naruto roams freely..." responded Koharu._

_"BULLSHIT!!!!! YOU JUST DON'T WANT HIM TO SUCCEED ME AS HOKAGE!!!!" yelled Tsunade_

_"Whatever that means..." said Koharu_

_"Don't play dumb with me you old hag!!!! As Hokage and as the Third's student I have the knowledge of ALL of Konoha's secrets... even the council's!!! You can't ignore forever the fact that he's the Fourth's son!!!" she said pointing at the elders._

_"Then why don't you simply tell him?..." said Koharu calmly to which the Slug Princess stopped dead on her tracks._

_She's right, you're the Hokage after all and it's your duty to tell him, not ours... this doesn't have anything to do with his childish dreams, we could care less about that, this is about Konoha's safety, not the jinchuriki's family..." added Homura._

_Tsunade hated to admit it but in part the were right, the council's duty didn't include telling Naruto about his family or anything related to it, that was the Hokage's duty, just as her former master, the Third had the same responsability but couldn't achieve such thing because of Orochimaru, she was given that task as the Fifth, doing otherwise would result in the council once again taking advantage of the situation or even worse, Danzo._

_"Regardless of your possition as the Hokage, Konoha is at the Feudal Lord's service so his authority overpowers yours..." continued Homura "This is not a request Tsunade-hime, it's an order, one week..." then both elders stood up and left the room leaving a very frustrated Hokage._

_"... bastards..." she muttered "AAAAAAAAAHH!!!" she screamed loudly letting the whole village know she was indeed beyond angry at this point._

--END FLACHBACK--

"I see..." said Fusukaku as he was in deep thought "I've always thought there's something fishy about those two, I know most of the villagers hate Naruto because of the Kyuubi but those two... all that hate, it's like they're the sponsors of it..."

"Like the village's anger runs through them, they're the bridge that leads to Naruto..." added Tsunade "I'm aware of this Fusukaku-sama, I've been so busy worrying about Akatsuki that I've stopped noticing things happening inside Konoha..."

"Don't blame yourself Tsunade-chan, being Hokage is not an easy task after all..." said the elder toad.

"Still... the council is moving behind my back, I should have them arrested but..." Tsunade said

"There's no charge..." added Fusukaku "And the Fire Lord's got their backs covered so there's little you can do for now, just try to relax, Naruto will be safe with me..."

"I know... thank you" she said smiling a little "But why Konoha's dungeons?... that place as never been used before, even the S-ranked criminals go to the village's prison, not the dungeons..." once again looking worried.

"They have no clue that he will be training with me, as long as they believe he's inside the dungeons then that will keep them distracted..."

"Kage Bushin..." she smiled "But for how long? they will notice sooner or later..."

"By the time they notice, Naruto will be out of their reach..." Fusukaku smiled "You should worry about the Feudal Lord in our absence, when we return here, the council will try to arrest him again and we can't use violence, even if we want to, you must find a way to keep us legally bound to your law and not theirs, it's the only thing I can think of right now..."

"Allright... and what about Danzo?" she asked

"Hmm... good question... even I cannot foresee his intentions..."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, Danzo, apart from Akatsuki and the council elders, was one of her biggest threats as well, his recent lack of movement had the Slug Sannin worried, she had to be more alert now before he did something that could affect her or Naruto, or even worse, both.

"I feel uneasy about this... it's not like Danzo to stop making moves all of a sudden, I know he's up to something as well..."

"Let's not worry about him for now Tsunade-chan, concentrate on the task at hand, we'll handle Danzo later." said Fusukaku "Listen, it's a little late, I should get back home or Ma's gonna whack me" he said a little embarassed "You should get some rest too Hime, tomorrow's going to be a busy day..."

"Yeah... I'll do that..." responded the Sannin.

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"Naruto wait!" said Sakura while running behind the blonde.

He turned around to see the pink haired kunoichi stop in front of him just to take a second trying to catch her breath, she had been looking for the blonde ever since they left the Hokage tower, Naruto had been also running around with no particular direction, night had already reached Konoha but it was still too early for him to go home and sleep, whenever this happened he went out to take a walk, or in his case, a run around the village, he never noticed Saruka following his steps for a while now, since he was used to running at such speed and actually had the stamina to do so, he didn't blame his teammate for being so tired, but then again, why was she following him?

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?"

"I've... *pant* been looking *pant* for you *pant* Naruto..." she composed a second later.

"Huh? why?"

Sakura looked over her corner and noticed that the Ichiraku Ramen stand was right there and still open, she smiled inwardly as she took Naruto's hand and started litteraly dragging him to the stand while he protested but to no avail. Once there, they both took a seat as Ayame arrived to attend.

"Naruto! Sakura-san! what a surprise to see you here!" she said looking pleased.

"Hey Ayame-san, can I have one Miso ramen? Naruto..." she looked at him waiting for his order.

"Three specials Ayeme-chan!" he said with his foxy grin.

"Allright, I'll be back in a sec!" Ayame then went back to the kitchen where her dad Teuchi was currently cooking.

"So why were you looking for me earlier Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked looking at her.

"Oh right, listen Naruto I know it's none of my business but..." she thought carefully before she continued "I know we haven't talked for a while but I... wanted to ask you something about our mission... if that's ok with you of course..."

Naruto thought for a second looking a bit confused but then he smiled at her "Of course Sakura-chan, you can ask me whatever you want, that's what friends are for!"

"_Phew... looks like he's no longer depressed"_ she thought and smiled a little "Ok... I know what we're going to retrieve tomorrow at Ame but there's something else I wanted to know..."

"Ask away Sakura-chan" his grin never leaving his face.

"Once we're back... you're going to go away for a while again aren't you...?" she asked looking at him directly.

Naruto's grin vanished as he was now looking at her with a surprised expression, he thought it was no mistery already for everyone that he was going away to train with Fusukaku-sama once their mission was complete, but it looked like Sakura was not happy about that, the look on her face told him she was upset about it, he looked at the table with a sad look but still trying to smile a little.

"...Yeah, that's the plan..." he answered.

"... Why can't you stay here? train with us, we can all become strong together and then--"

"I can't do that..." he interrupted still not looking at her "Akatsuki is after me, if I stay then they will come and lay waste on Konoha... I can't let that happen..."

Sakura was now feeling choked up with emotion, she felt completely sad because she knew it wasn't Naruto's fault Akatsuki wanted to hunt him down, back then he was just a baby, he never had the chance to make a choice, that choice that could have changed his destiny, change the fact that he was a jinchuriki, a weapon, Naruto spoke again.

"If the word about me going outside Konoha gets spread across the countries and reached their ears, their focus will no longer be to come here looking for me, they will search somewhere else and that will keep you guys safe..."

"We can defend ourselves Naruto!" she responded somehow angered.

"Sorry! Sorry Sakura-chan!!!" he apologized quickly "I didn't imply you guys are weak!!... it's just that..."

"Yeah?"

"Well... you saw what kind of people we are dealing with, that guy with the mask we faced at the forest... Kakashi-sensei said he had the Sharingan with him, and we couldn't even scratch him... we're not ready to face them yet, at least not him or the guy who killed Ero Sennin..." his eyes narrowed at those last words.

"... I understand" she said looking a bit sad "But what if they find you...?"

"They won't... the old toad said where I'm going not even Akatsuki will be able to find me and I trust his word..."

Just then Ayame arrived holding four bowls, Sakura's Miso and Naruto's three specials, both sat straight and kept silent while she served their orders, Naruto's expression quickly changed into a hungry look, it was after all, his first visit to Ichiraku's in weeks, Sakura just looked pleased at her bowl, she didn't want to admit it, but she was now getting a taste for ramen because of Naruto, actually most of their friends were coming to Ichiraku's more often now, even Kakashi and other known shinobi were also eating there for a change, Teuchi felt he was in debt with the blonde Genin, it was because of him that his business was now starting to grow.

"Itadakimasu!" they both said each breaking a pair of chopsticks, they both ate quietly, while Sakura ate slowly, she noticed Naruto was also eating calmly and not like a pig as he usually did, this made her raise an eyebrow wondering why the sudden change in him.

"Umm... Naruto..."

"Huh?" he stopped before taking another bite.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm good, why?"

"Because you're not eating like you are used to..."

"Ah! Hahahahaha...." he laughed at her words and scratched the back of his head "I guess I'm just doing what Ero Sennin taught me about manners hehehe..." he kept his happy expression this time, Sakura just giggled.

After they finished their meal, Sakura insisted on paying to which both Naruto and Ayame looked at each other wondering what was wrong, the blonde felt relieved, at least

his wallet Gamma-chan was staying full for the night but he noted mentally to pay back next time... next time! The thought hit him like a brick on the face, this was a date and he didn't even notice, but knowing Sakura, she probably let it slide as well, she would probably just say this was a friendly meal but luck was on his side tonight, taking on a lecherous grin, Ayame asked the question most of their friends wanted to know if they would've been there.

"So are you two on a date or something?" Teuchi heard from the back and just rolled his eyes.

Both Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and blushed, looking away immediately, her words made Sakura realize this was indeed a date, she was just too busy ignoring it, mentally Naruto was happy that they were seeing it as such but he decided to say otherwise just to keep the pink haired girl from punching him into next year.

"I don't know what you're talking about Ayame-chan!" he said nervously "We were just discussing some important matters for tomorrow's mission hehe..."

"Oh I see..." she said a bit dissapointed "So you two are leaving on a mission tomorrow eh?"

"Yeah, but we'll be back shortly Ayame-san" responded Sakura, inside she was a bit dissapointed that Naruto had just denied these events as a date, she was actually looking forward to it "We'll definitely come here the moment we return right Naruto?" she smiled at him.

"Yeah we'll do that" he responded giving Ayame a thumbs up "But definitely not on a date hahaha..." at this statement Sakura smacked Naruto in the back of the head

"Hey! Sakura-chan what was that for?!" he asked, she just huffed and started walking away, again, she felt a bit sad because of Naruto's words but tried to ignore it, he waved Ayame good bye and went quickly after Sakura.

Silently, just around the corner Ino was watching the whole thing "... he's... leaving again...?" she murmured sadly.

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The next morning Kakashi and his team met just like the Hokage had ordered at the main gate, as usual, they checked backpacks and equipment before the Hokage herself arrived shortly, giving each one of the four shinobi a look, she was actually amused at the fact that the Copy Ninja had actually made it on time, she was just glad that when Kakashi didn't have his Icha-Icha books with him, he actually got serious, Sai and Sakura were looking rather full of energy and ready for anything but Sakura especially put out, Naruto on the other hand was awfully quiet, this time however, no one was expecting something different, this was an important mission to him after all and it was time for him to show his maturiry towards it.

"Good to see you here, now..." Tsunade spoke "Naruto, can you brief the rest of your team on the mission? you have the rest of the details..."

"Right!" he said as his team looked at him, he pulled out of his jacket Jiraiya's letter and unfolded the piece of paper showing everyone the map the Toad Sannin had designed "This is a map of Ame that Ero Sennin left for me, if we follow it step by step then we won't have any trouble getting caught..."

"So Jiraiya-sama opened a path for us..." said Kakashi looking over at the map.

Looking each datail cerefully, Naruto explained his team how they were going to inflitrate Ame without taking unnecesary risks, the way he explained things reminded Tsunade of Shikamaru for a second, he talked like a natural leader and had analyzed over the map to make sure nothing went wrong, designing tactics in case something went out of track, a nice start for the future Hokage.

"That's all, any questions?" he asked looking at the others with the exception of Tsunade, everyone stood silent "Good, then we're off..." and he put the map back inside his jacket and closed the zipper.

"Ame's exactly 18 hours away from Konoha if you make haste, that mean you'll arrive by dawn when everyone else is asleep with the exception of the patrolling guards, it should take you no more than two days to come back, please be careful..." said Tsunade looking a bit concerned at Naruto, he just smirked.

"We'll be allright Baa-chan, trust me..." he said making the Hokage sigh and then smile, she raised her left arm making the gesture of dismissal, at this team Kakashi sped off away from Konoha and into the woods where she kept looking even after they were gone.

"You'd better be Naruto... you'd better be..." she said before turning back and walking away.

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**There it is, trying to write a story at a fast pace will only make me to either writ wrong or just drop it so again, patience, next chapter I'm going to bring back from the dead an old shinobi... some might know who it is... can u guess?? ;) see you soon and please.... REVIEW BEFORE ADDING TO STORY ALERT!! It just takes a minute of your life :D...**


	3. Journey

**Hello again, back with a new chapter, sorry it took so long but you know me :P.**

**I don't own Naruto BTW (Bummer)**

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Chapter 3 - Journey

Team Kakashi dashed through the forest at high speed, leaves in the air as they passed by, the trees shaking when they stepped on them, nothing but the sound of them advancing towards Ame could be heard, it was awfully quiet ever since they departed from Konoha and they had traveled for a while now without taking a break, no traps, no hostile shinobi, no nothing, their path was clear...

And that was a sign of alert.

It was already getting dark, the cold air started to surround the four Konoha shinobi as they kept moving, now it would become almost impossible to see any traps in the way, Kakashi was in the lead as he suddenly stopped in one of the branches and the trio behind him also halted for a second.

"What's wrong Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura

"We'll take a take a break around here" he said as he jumped off the branch and landed safely on the ground, the others followed.

"Why? we're just a few hours away, we should keep moving while we still can!" said Naruto, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Kakashi-sempai is right..." said Sai "We're going to need all the energy we can afford in case we encounter a strong enemy..."

"Exactly, and we don't want to be caught off guard do we? besides, we don't have your stamina Naruto..." added the Copy Ninja.

Sakura thought for a second and said "But master Tsunade said Akatsuki would not be around, they're somewhere else..."

"Regardless of what Hokage-sama said, we must be alert, we can't be sure about anything when going into enemy territoty..." said Sai

"Damn it..." Naruto cursed under his breath but in an empty forest it didn't matter, his friends heard him.

"What's wrong Naruto?" asked Kakashi.

"... nothing." he said calmly as his anger faded and took a seat on the grass "If we're going to take a break then let's do that, I don't want to waste time..." he said in a serious tone. His team, especially Sakura looked at him a bit surprised, his attitude was definitely not what they expected of him, he looked a bit dissapointed, after all he wanted to be the first person to arrive and complete their mission, but now it was looking more as if it was just his mission, like the rest of the team was holding him back, this thought didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi who immediately knew something was off.

"Naruto... I know you're a bit anxious but we have to be prepared, we don't have the same energy as you do--"

"Then perhaps you should spend more time training instead of reading those stupid books..." he interrupted looking at the ground, Kakashi's visible eye went wide at his response, it reminded him of himself when he was younger. Sakura was angered.

"Naruto!! What's with your attitude???" she asked. Sai kept silent.

"What's wrong is that we're wasting time here just because you guys don't take your lives as shinobi seriously..." he said still calm stainding up "I don't know what you guys are doing in these days but I'm definitely not staying behind Sasuke because of you..." he looked at Sakura and then Kakashi "He's not the only person getting stronger, so is Akatsuki and perhaps other shinobi as well, I don't have time to play around, you said you wanted to rest, then rest, I'm ready when you guys are..." turning his back at them he walked towards a tree and started walking on it, the chakra exercises he learned back with team 7, he stayed upside down one of the branches, arms crossed and eyes closed. Sakura was still trying to process everything her blonde teammate had just said, "_Naruto... you feel weak... because of us...?"_ she thought as a tear escaped from one of her eyes. Even as Sai kept quiet the whole time, he also felt a bit uneasy about this situation, the Naruto he knew would've been insulting and protesting about everything, being obnoxious like he remembered but that was not the case, it looked like that Naruto was gone. Kakashi just sighed.

"He's right, let's rest for a few minutes so we can continue..." he said putting his backpack on the ground.

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"As Promised..." Sasuke said as he dropped the body of the now unconcious Hachibi host "So where's Madara?" he asked.

"He said he had other things to attend to, I'm here on his behalf." responded Kisame.

The battle had been anything but easy, even with the Mangekyou Sharingan the ninja known as Kirabi was more than a match for Sasuke and team Taka. The Uchiha actually had been beaten badly, if not for Karin's recovering abilities, they all would've met their deaths a lot sooner. The monstruos Hachibi turned out to be a giant ox with tentacle-like tails, his destructive power had almost killed Suigetsu who was at the moment no more than a mass of puddle, Juugo was also looking beaten, his strenght had considerably decreased the moment he fused part of his flesh with Sasuke's to cure some of his wounds, he looked now like a 12 year old kid because of it and his chakra reserves had also diminished considerably, on his left shoulder Karin laid unconcious, her reserves were also low since she also gave most of them to Sasuke before Kirabi's full transformation which was finally stopped by the black flame Amaterasu.

"Heh... looks like you kids had quite a ride." said Kisame smirking as he looked at Sasuke and his team, they were completely beat up. "Now we only need the Kyuubi, it won't be long before it's captured as well..."

Sasuke remained silent at his comment and changed the subject "We need a room, a tank full of water for Suigetsu here and some food for us three, when Madara arrives, please tell him I have some things I want to discuss..."

--ONE HOUR LATER--

"WHAT????????!!!!!!!! YOU STUPID BITCH!!!!!!! THAT WAS MY SWORD!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Suigetsu at Karin.

"JUST BE GLAD WE BROUGHT YOUR SORRY ASS BACK HERE YOU UNGRATEFUL FUCK!!!!!!!" she yelled back in a comical fashion.

"Enough!" said Sasuke to which both Hawk members stopped their rant and huffed. All members were currently recovering from their long battle with the Hachibi jinchuriki, as Sasuke had requested, Suigetsu was getting back to shape inside a big tank full of water that Kisame filled himself, Karin was already feeling better than the rest of her team since she didn't take any direct damage from their opponent with the exeption of a great tentacle tail she couldn't dodge in time and sent her hard against the ground making her lose consciousness, Juugo was sitting next to Sasuke with eyes closed as if he was meditating, his wounds were already healed, now it was just a mater of time before his chakra reserves were full again, their Akatsuki robes were laid across a table.

"We'll get back your sword later, if you guys keep fighting you won't recover anytime soon so save your anger from when we get to Konoha..." Both looked at the Uchiha with curiosity, even Juugo opened his eyes and looked at him expecting his next words.

"So you really want revenge on them after all..." he said

"This is no longer about revenge Juugo, that was my emotional response when Itachi killed the Uchiha clan, this time it's different..." he paused as he remembered every word Madara had told him. "Konoha treated the Uchiha as slaves back then and used my brother as their guinea pig to destroy them from the inside, he was just a tool for them and nothing else..."

"Heh... then I guess those elders are going to get what they deserve won't they Sasuke?" asked Suigetsu smirking.

"Not just the elders... everyone in Konoha will..." he answered, Juugo raised and eyebrow. "They orchestrated everything against my clan and my brother, in return I'm going to lay punishment on the entire village... women, children... everyone will feel my hatred..." his Mangekyou Sharingan activated at his final words, the others stood silent until the door opened and in came the infamous Tobi/Madara Uchiha, Sasuke's Sharingan deactivated when he entered.

"Ah... looks like everyone made it." he said.

"You and I need to talk..." said Sasuke standing up from his chair and walking towards the door motioning the Akatsuki leader to follow him, Tobi followed without saying a word and closed the door leaving the rest of team Hawk by themselves.

"...That masked dude gives me the creeps!" said Suigetsu outloud to which Karin just nodded, Juugo stood silent.

"Yeah, I've never felt such chakra before, not even Orochimaru's charka felt this..." Karin couldn't finish her words.

"Sinister." complemented Juugo.

"*sigh* Anywho, I don't think I'll be going with you guys to Konoha, not until I get my sword back at least." said Suigetsu, Karin just glared at him, he continued in a boring tone "I mean, that was Zabuza-sempai's sword, you don't see a sword like that every day..." a vein popped in Karin's forehead "And just when I was going to---"

"I'LL GET YOU YOUR STUPID SWORD BACK ALLRIGHT???? JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP SUIGETSU!!!!" Karin yelled again in comical fashion.

"DON'T YOU DISRESPECT ZABUZA-SEMPAI'S SWORD YOU BITCH!!!!" he yelled back.

"FUCK YOU!!!!"

"NO FUCK YOU!!!"

"*sigh*... not again" mumbled Juugo.

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"Ame... isn't that the village where Jiraiya-sama..."

"It is Shikamaru..." responded Tsunade.

The Hokage had requested the presence of team 10 along with Yamato who had just returned from his last mission and was currently adressing them on team Kakashi's current mission, giving them some brief details about what they were about to do. Even though everyone in the room kept a serious look as they listened to the details, Ino felt a lot of questions were starting to gather inside her mind, she now realized how little she knew about Naruto's life, Chouji and Shikamaru were a different story, they'd been hanging out since the academy days and even if they didn't now like before, they still considered the blond a great friend.

"Yamato will be your captain for this mission, your squad is their backup, since they left just this morning then you're no less than a few hours away, once they have recovered the lost items make sure to return here safely, any questions?" everyone stood silent "Then you have one hour to get ready, meet at the gates by then, Dismissed!" And the four shinobi headed to the door, as soon as everyone was out Shizune came in running holding an envelope.

"Tsunade-sama! we've recieved an emergency letter from Kumo!" Tsunade raised and eyebrow as her apprentice gave her the envelope, she took the letter out and after reading for a minute the piece of paper fell to the floor, the Hokage's face looked in complete disbelief.

"They.......... they have the Hachibi....!" she murmured.

"Who?" asked Shizune still not understanding what was going "Who does?"

"Akatsuki...." responded the Hokage, at this Shizune's eyes widened in horror and she gasped "But.... how?"

"Shizune! send a message to Suna telling Gaara that we have been summoned by the Raikage at the Kage Summit NOW!!!!

"Y... Yes!!!!" and she left the office in the blink of an eye.

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Once outside the Hokage tower team 10 and Yamato discussed one last time their mission before their captain told them he would see them in an hour at their meeting place, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji were left by themselves as they watched the Mokuton user jump over the roofs and then dissapear over the distance.

"Well we still have an hour, we should go eat something while we wait." said Chouji.

"You're always thinking with your stomach Chouji..." said Ino a bit irritated.

Chouji flinched "Hmm? What are you trying to say Ino?" he asked looking at her a bit suspicious.

"That you're a fa---"

"HEY! I agree with Chouji! let's go and get something to eat, I'm also hungry!" interrupted Shikamaru covering Ino's mouth before she could finish the whole sentence, Chouji looked confused but nodded and started walking "OK! Let's go to Ichiraku's!" he stated a bit loud. Once he was out of ear's reach, Shikamaru let go of his hand as Ino protested.

"What the HELL!!!"

"What's wrong with you Ino??? You know that's a taboo word for him!!"

She huffed "I'm not afraid to speak my mind and you know that LAZY ASS!" she joked, with arms crossed and making sure to emphasize the last two words.

"*sigh* You're really troublesome... Come on, we really should eat something before we leave." then both started walking following Chouji's steps but still keeping their distance, he was walking proudly towards the ramen stand, Ino whispered to her lazy partner.

"Hey, I've noticed that Chouji is now eating more over at Ichiraku's, since when did he start liking ramen?"

He eyed her "Chouji likes all kinds of food, I don't know what you mean..."

Once there the trio took a seat and Ayame came out of the back to attend them, Chouji blushed a bit when he saw the girl and this didn't go unnoticed by his partners, both now knew what was going on and smirked but didn't say a word, propping their elbows on the counter, they leaned on their hands, wishing they had some popcorn, at least they were until Chouji noticed their looks but then Ayame spoke.

"Hey Chouji! How's it going?"

"H..Hi Ayame-san!" he replied a bit nervous ignoring his friends, both just kept looking as if it was a movie.

"My father and I were wondering where you had gone in these days, you don't visit so often now..."

"I've been busy, you know, missions and all that hehe..." he said scratching his forehead.

"Well I'm glad you're back, aside from Naruto you're one of our best clients!" she smiled at him and he blushed again, then he turned to face the other two "Hey guys! sorry I didn't see you there..."

"Oh don't worry Ayame-san, we didn't want to interrupt you two." Ino said with a sly smile across her lips, Ayame blinked looking a bit puzzled but Chouji's face turned completely red as he glared madly at his teammates, especially Shikamaru who started making kissing gestures towards them, Ayame immediately understood the situation and blushed a bit but quickly composed herself.

"Uh... so what can I get you?"

"I'll just have a salad Ayame-san thank you." Ino replied

"Miso for me please." Shikamaru said.

"Ok, how about you Chouji-k--- Chouji!!" she felt embarassed at her words but the Chunnin didn't seem to notice and answered casually.

"Uh... Three Miso for me Ayame-ch---- Ayame!!!" now he felt embarassed but just like him, Ayame let the comment pass unnoticed, she quickly bowed and went back to the kitchen leaving the three Chunnin alone, Chouji gave a sigh of relief but he stiffened the second he felt two pair of eyes on him, now he knew his ramen experience for the day would be ruined.

"Damn..." he muttered under his breath "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"So Ayame eh?" asked Shikamaru casually, his smirk never leaving his face.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT SHIKAMARU!!! DON'T GET ANY IDEAS!!!!" he comically yelled at his teammate.

"Aww but you two look SOOOOOO cute together! I can already picture your children and all!" also said Ino looking rather pleased with herself.

"WILL YOU TWO CUT THAT OUT??? IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!" Chouji kept ranting.

"Ok, allright Chouji calm down." said Shikamaru still laughing a little bit along with Ino "I'm actually happy for you, Ayame is a nice person."

"I'm happy for you too Cho, no need to feel embarassed about it, I also think she's a nice girl" she smiled at him.

The look on their chubby friend's face changed from a dumbfoud expression into a soft genuine smile "Thank you guys..."

Back in the kitchen Ayame heard the whole conversation while preparing their food, she was still showing a faint blush on her cheeks but the smile that followed didn't want to leave her face, her father Teuchi noticed this while preparing the orders and smirked but kept silent the whole time, he knew this was not the time to tease his daughter about sentimental matters. "_I've never seen her smile like that, and out of all people the Akimichi boy stood up the most... I couldn't be happier..." _he thought.

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'Poof', a severed tentacle fell to the ground and silence governed the cave, the Akatsuki members who were present at the moment didn't say a word but they obviously were a bit surprised of the outcome, none of them expected their prey to turn into a fake, Kisame, Zetzu and Tobi were trying to seal the powerful Hachibi, since they were only three, the sealing was supossed to take about 6 days to complete, Konan and Pain had returned as instructed to Ame and for some reason Tobi couldn't make contact with them, they were eluding him and that was not good.

"Looks like Sasuke screwed up" said Kisame

"Haha a tentacle!" "**Don't laugh!**" also said Zetsu

Tobi remained silent, his Sharingan could almost predict things but this time it couldn't, he was decieved by a jinchuriki and to his own surprise he felt amused, it had been a long time since someone managed to outsmart him in anything but a fight, only Hashirama Senju had achieved such thing and that had been decades ago.

"What a surprise, I guess we'll have to re think our strategy, this jinchuriki outsmarted us and Sasuke's team easily." he said as if nothing had happened.

"What should we do then? Sasuke won't be able to handle it a second time, perhaps I should go..." said Kisame.

"That's not necessary, we'll let him go for now, I get the feeling that we won't see him for a while..."

"And what about the last of the jinchuriki?" "**We can't seal it without the Hachibi first.**"

"I know, that's why I'm trying to contact Pain but he's blocking my chakra somehow, whatever it is that he's doing it looks like he doesn't want to be found..."

"Then... should we go to Ame and see him directly?" asked Kisame

"No, let him be, even if he captures the Kyuubi jinchuriki he knows we can't seal it without sealing the Hachibi first, that would break the balance and the statue here would crumble..."

"Do you think he's up to something then Madara-san?"

"Pain is a difficult guy to read, even I cannot know what he's going to do, Konan is extremely loyal to him but she's not a threat... *sigh* At any rate, since he's not here then we're making a change of plans again."

"Again?" "**Stop complaining!**"

"Yes Zetsu, again, I'm sorry... you and I are going to Konoha first."

"Huh? Konoha? What for?" "**You're an idiot as always, just listen!**"

"We're going to retrive the bodies of Hidan and Kakuzu, the odds will be better with them on our side again."

"The zombie twins? what use are they if they're dead?" asked again Kisame puzzled.

"They're not dead yet, just incapacitated, Kakuzu just needs a new set of hearts and Hidan needs his body put back together." He then looked at the shark nin "Kisame, go and find at least two good hearts for Kakuzu, any element for now will do, he can choose the others once he's back with us."

"Yes but where should I go search then?"

"Go to Taki, that was his village once, shinobi over there have good elemental affinities, find two good hearts for him."

"What about Sasuke and the others?" "**He will suspect if we leave so suddenly**"

"I know, for now this meeting will remain between us three."

"**Four**"

"Right, us four... by the time Sasuke is fully healed we'll be back here, Konoha shouldn't be so difficult to infiltrate but remember we're not going man-hunting Zetsu, you go into the morgue, get Kakuzu's corpse and leave"

"And what about Hidan?" asked Kisame

"He's not in there, Konoha only took Kakuzu, last time I felt his chakra signatures he was very close to the village though, he shouldn't be too far, we have to do it quickly or Konoha might notice."

"Hey but you can teleport anywhere, why the rush?" "**And why the hell are you questioning him?!**"

"Heh... because teleporting requires a lot of chakra and that Karin girl can sense it, she'll tell Sasuke and that might complicate things later for us, we'll travel by foot, it shouldn't take more than three hours to get there since we're already close."

"Umm... Madara-san, it could take me more time to find those hearts and Taki's not exactly close to our current location..."

"Don't worry about it, just make sure you come back with those hearts."

"Understood"

"Right... then let's not wait any longer, time is gold... let's go!"

And just like last time they met, the shadows that were once occupying the cave dissapeared in the blink of an eye leaving nothing bus silence behind.

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"Ah... so the boy is out of the village... a mission you say?"

"Yes Danzo-sama, he left this morning along with three other shinobi by orders of the Hokage."

"Were to?"

"Ame."

"Ame... So Jiraiya left him something after all..."

"Should my unit follow them Danzo-sama?"

"No, that won't be necessary, they'll be back tomorrow before nightfall..."

The War Hawk had been carefully watching Naruto's movements for the last couple of days, he knew that the blonde was currently emotionally confused and unstable due to Jiraiya's death, a few days back he would've never paid attention to him because in his eyes he was just a failure but he now noticed a particular change in the blonde that had caught his attention, Naruto no longer acted like a child, he looked more focused and serious, just like a true shinobi should be and now he wanted to take advantage of that, bring Naruto into his Root squads and if he managed control his emotions perhaps help him remove Tsunade as Hokage, he was aware or thier close bondings but a confused shinobi for him was easy to manipulate, emotions after all were a shinobi's greatest weakness. Danzo stood up from the chair and walked slowly and silently with his staff across the dark room that only a few candles managed to iluminate, the other man was a Root ANBU with a hawk mask hiding his features and a black cloak covering his entire body.

"Who's with the boy?" asked Danzo

"Former ANBU captain Kakashi Hatake, Chunnin level kunoichi Sakura Haruno and one of our own, Root member 'Sai'."

"Hmm... the Copy Ninja is with him, he could get in the way but the other two won't be a problem, Sai won't dissobey my orders and Tsunade's apprentice will be busy in the hospital once they're back..." Danzo turned to face the msked ANBU "I want you to keep an eye on the main gate, when they arrive inform Naruto that I want to see him alone, don't let his friends know, not even Sai do you understand?"

"Yes Danzo-sama." he bowed

"Leave now, and don't report back until you complete your task."

The ANBU dissapeared in a strange black fog leaving no trace behind, Danzo took a seat once again and did something unusual, he smirked, nobody, not even the Third had seen Danzo smile or show any sign of emotion before, even when he was alone it was impossible for him to smile but now for once he believed he had a reason to feel this way, he knew his plans were finally starting to take shape.

"Soon..." he said silently to himself.

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**I promise next chapter will be a bit longer than the last three, I'm also planning on writing a great battle tho I'm not too good at it but I'm gonna look for some tips :), next chapter will come soon this time, promised!**


	4. Mission Complete?

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Sorry for the long wait, I'm actually tired of making excuses about not updating as fast as I promised to do it but that's reality, I can't, the "why" doesn't really matter but anyways, here's chapter 4, enjoy and review!

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Chapter 4 - Mission... Complete?

It was probably 2 am already, complete silence surrounded the forest around the village of Ame, everyone with the exeption of the guards on patrol duty were asleep, even the main tower, a huge structure that looked old enough to pass as an abandoned fortress was quiet, this due to the fact that their leader was not around the village just yet, this was just was team Kakashi was expecting as they all looked over the village from a hill where the forest came to an end, the trees could still hide their presence but once they came out of them the guards would be on alert, before them was a great metallic structure that acted as the main gate wall, similar to their own main east gate but with no trees or any vegetation whatsoever to surround it, just rocks and puddles of mud courtesy of the almost endless rain that covered the entire area, even now, the Konoha shinobi were having a hard time under the trees because of the rain only saved by the fact that they were wearing cloaks. Just beyond the gate a huge lake presented itself separating the entire village from the entrance, only a large wooden bridge connected both sides.

"...5, 6, 7... I counted seven guards over that wall, they all look like rookies so they're probably Chunnin, we cannot enter without taking them out first, I bet the lake Jiraiya-sama was talking about is that one beyond the gate..." said the Copy Ninja.

"How are we going to take those guys out without alerting everyone else? they're seven and we're four..." asked Sakura.

"Naruto, you take the two on the far right, I'll take the three in the middle, Sakura and Sai will handle the other two resting over there..."

Naruto was actually growing impatient, he didn't want to go through all this, screw teamwork here, he was going to do this his own way instead of wasting time, Kakashi had already pissed him off enough earlier.

"Fuck this..." he said and immediately dashed out of the forest's protection and into the open, his teammate's eyes widened at his sudden outburst but yelling would only alert the guards of their presence, Kakashi mentally cursed the blonde for his stupidity.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" whispered the blonde making the cross seal as he ran towards the metallic gate, thirteen copies of the blonded poofed into existance a second later and they all started climbing the structure using chakra on their feet while also each taking out of their pouch a kunai.

"Did you hear that?" said one of the guards alerting his partner.

"Yeah, what was that?"

"Sounded like something hit the gate, let's take a look." said another guard who joined his commarades.

They all started walking towards the edge of the wall to take a look below but before they could even have a glimpse of what was going on six figures jumped foward and in the blink of an eye slashed the three guards's throats, their bodies fell from the wall and into the mud below, the other four guards immediately took their defensive stances but it was too late, the remaining eight shadows were already over them before they could even react and killed them swiftly and silently, Kakashi watched from his hiding spot as the bodies of the four guards fell to the floor and the clones poofed away leaving the original Naruto kneeling over one of the guards checking for any vitals, after a few seconds he raised his arm slightly making his team know the coast was clear and they were free to join him which they did a minute later also climbing the gate and jumping across to the other side together.

"That was reckless Naruto-kun, we could've been discovered." said Sai, but the blonde ignored him. Sakura simply wanted to punch his lights out for making such move but decided to remain quiet and just glare at the blonde.

"This must be the lake Ero Sennin mentioned..." he said looking towards the huge lake, Amegakure could be seen not too far from where they stood, he took out the map and verified "According to the map his belongings must be at the bottom of this lake, I'll go and check, you guys should go and hide under that bridge before someone spots you." he finished putting the map back inside his cloak.

Sakura was about to protest but Kakashi's hand on her shoulder and a shake from his head stalled her words, the look on her sensei's face clearly stated that this was not the time to argue with her blonde teammate.

"We'll be waiting for you over there then, but we'll have a long talk about what just happened once we're out of this place, agreed?" said Kakashi.

Naruto sighed "...Agreed, just let me do this already."

"You better hurry, there's something I don't like about this rain..." Naruto and the others looked at the Jounin with a puzzled look while he checked the clouds above "... Never mind that, just hurry." the blonde nodded and took off his dark green cloak leting it fall to the muddy ground and then he slowly entered the water, it was cold, colder than he had expected but he paid no mind to it and after taking a deep breath he took a dive and then he was out of sight.

"Sakura, take his cloak, we must hide now before someone comes..." said the Jounin, the pink haired girl did as instructed and then all three shinobi ran towards the old bridge to seek refuge from the rain.

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"Let's stop here for a second." said Yamato, the three Chunnin behind him jumped next to the branch where he stood.

"Something wrong captain Yamato?" asked Chouji.

The ANBU captain didn't answer right away but instead jumped down to reach ground, his team followed still waiting for an answer when they noticed what he was looking at, Yamato crouched to check what looked like a scorched ground in front of him, ashes and rests of burned wood laid there, clearly they were standing where someone had camped earlier.

"What's the problem captain Yamato? it's just an old campsite, what's the big deal?" asked Ino.

"Yeah, maybe Kakashi-sensei was here so we should keep moving..." continued Chouji.

"That's the problem..." he finally responded, Shikamaru stood silent while his teammates' eyes widened in surprise, the Jounin stood up and faced his team "Tsunade-sama said that they had left Konoha a bit early, we just left the village more than ten hours ago so they're probably in Ame already..."

"What are you geting at then captain?" asked Chouji.

"This ground is still warm..." intervened Shikamaru as he kneeled to touch the scorched remains "If Kakashi-sensei and the others are already in Ame and we're still at least other ten hours away from them then..."

"You mean...!"

"They were not here, this wood must have burned at least fifteen or twenty minutes ago, this is someone else's campsite..." the Chunnin resumed.

Ino and Chouji both stood speechless for a second still processing what their partner had said before entering into a full state of alert, looking their surroundings for anything out of context, Yamato did the same but on a less exagerated scale unlike the two Chunnin who looked frantically everywhere, he remained still just moving his head slowly to scan the area and not showing any signs of being nervous or worried at all, Shikamaru did the same but with one hand in one of his pockets.

Up in a tree some meters away from the shinobi a hidden figure watched how the whole scene had developed "_Shit..._" the figure mentally cursed.

"Looks like we won't find anything here, we should keep moving..." finally said Yamato relaxing a bit.

"But... shouldn't we look around first? what if it was a rogue nin or something?" asked Ino a bit nervous.

"No, our mission is to assist team Kakashi and make sure nothing happens to Naruto while we're at it, we don't have time to be looking for missing nin." replied Yamato "If Akatsuki comes again then we must protect Naruto at all cost, understood?" the hidden figure's eyes widened "_Naruto..._"

"Yes!" the three Chunnin answered in a great display of synchronization.

"Good, let's keep moving then!" and all four shinobi jumped once again to the trees and started dashing from branch to branch until they were finally out of sight, the forest was quiet once again making it a safe moment for the figure who had been there the whole time to step out of the shadows and into the sunlight showing the pale face of a young woman no more older than any of the Rookie Nine, she was wearing a dark blue full body cloak revealing only her shinobi sandals, she had straight, long and flowing, black hair that probably reached her shoulder blades but only a small portion of it could be seen since she had the cloak's hood on covering the rest of her head, her chocolate brown eyes remained glued to the spot where the campfire once was, not daring to move from her hiding place until it was completely safe to do so.

"_That forehead protector... Konoha..." _she thought "_If they're also looking for Naruto... I must follow them carefully..."_

* * *

The Kazekage Tower is a serene building; normally quiet, with the only exceptions being the shinobi frequenting the office. Whether it be waiting calmly for a meeting with the Kazekage, or checking the mission boards, little excess sound is heard within the walls; at least until...

"Gaara!" yelled the Kazekage's sister Temari as she stormed into his office, the Kazekage was reading some papers and didn't look startled at all when his sister came in like she did, he merely glanced at her direction waiting for her to speak, she panted trying to catch her breath.

"What is it Temari?" Gaara asked in his usual tone. After a couple of seconds Temari composed herself and walked towards his desk handing him an envelope she had on her right hand when she entered the office.

"It's from Konoha, something urgent it seems..." she said "They sent their fastest messenger bird, the poor thing is very fatigued..."

"How's the bird?" he asked taking the envelope from Temari's hand, never cutting eye contact with his sister.

"We gave him food and water already, he's currently resting, he'll make it, don't worry." she finished with a smile.

"He?" the Kazekage asked, he never called any animal he or she, he certainly never expected Temari to do it.

"The bird's a male Gaara..." she responded and started walking back to the door.

"Temari wait..." Gaara called, she turned around wondering what he wanted. "Tell Kankuro to come here as well, whatever reason Konoha has for sending their fastest bird must be of extreme importance, I want the three of us to be here, please go find him."

She looked a bit puzzled but nodded and left the office to look for her other brother. Gaara waited for her footsteps to diminish enough so he could open the envelope and take out the piece of paper inside, when he did he started reading.

_To Suna's Kazekage:_

_We have been requested by the Raikage to meet at the Kage Summit in less than four days, you may take two shinobi of your full trust to travel with you and serve as guardians during our meeting, everything else will be explained there._

_Tsunade Senju_

_Kohoha's Hokage _

The Kazekage stood silent and then walked over one of the windows staring at the horizon, for the first time since the power of the Ichibi had left him he felt worried, he knew about this kind of meetings, only when true danger engulfed their lands a Kage meeting could be summoned and it had been decades since this happened, even his father, the fourth Kazekage never had to deal with this kind of requests. A minute or so passed before there was a knock on his door.

"Come in..." said Gaara

The door slowly opened followed by Temari and Kankuro stepping into their younger brother's office, the puppet master had a curious look on his face, he was running some errands of his own when Temari called his name and said Gaara wanted to see them both now, his gut feeling told him whatever the reason this was going to be interesting. Temari herself also felt a bit curious about the letter she had given the redhead moments ago, even if she didn't show it, she was very anxious deep inside.

"Close the door." ordered the Kazekage to which Kankuro did.

"So what's this all about Gaara?" he asked.

"We're leaving in a few days and I want you two to come with me to where I'm going..." he said as he returned to his desk taking a seat and continued "Konoha has sent me a letter for an audience requested by the Raikage, this type of meetings are only summoned when a great threat exists..."

"...Akatsuki?..." whispered Kankuro, tightening one of his fist as he remembered what they had done to his little brother.

"Probably, I'm not sure yet..." responded the young redhead.

"So... why do you want us to come with you? Shouldn't only the Kages be there?" asked Temari.

"Indeed, but each Kage must bring two persons as well to serve as guardians, two persons of the Kage's complete trust, that's why I want you both with me on this trip."

Temari blinked several times in confusion and awe, she swore her ears picked up the young Kage telling them both her and Kankuro that he trusted them, she looked over at the puppet master but he was only smirking, after all he had spend more time with the Kazekage than she did and it was of no surprise to him at all that Gaara was telling him such thing, Gaara stood silent waiting for his siblings to say something and to his relief Kankuro was the first one to talk.

"Cool, so we're your bodyguards on this one eh? I got your back Gaara." he replied and then looked at the Suna kunoichi "We both got your back right Temari?"

"... Y-Yes, you can count on us." she said a bit hesitant, the former jinchuriki noticed this.

"Something wrong Temari?"

"Huh? No I'm fine Gaara, just a bit startled that's all..."

"Startled? And why is that?" he asked now meeting her eyes.

"Well... I..." She stopped fearing that she would anger her brother.

"It's okay Temari, take your time." He said sensing her insecurity. "Remember, you can tell me anything."

She gave him a sharp nod and once again pulled together her muster, she knew Gaara had changed considerably during these last three years but a small part of her couldn't make aside the terrible monster he once was, ignoring her thoughts for a second she finally spoke.

"I'm just very glad that you trust us Gaara, I never had much time in my hands to get to know what you were thinking so that's why I felt a bit unsure about why you wanted us by your side..."

"That's it? Well then..." he asked, his stoic look never changing as he stood up from his chair and walked over to her place and stood in front of her, Temari gulped when he went to look for something inside his robes but soon she blinked in confusion when she saw the objects he held in his left hand as it extended to her, Kankuro also looked with curiosity at a pair of golden rings on him palm.

"I never told any of you this but Naruto Uzumaki gave these to me a year ago when he visited us with the Toad Sannin Jiraiya, he said a lady wandering in the dessert by herself gave these to him as a token of grattitude for saving her life..."

"Wow... those are made of pure gold Gaara, look, they even have Suna's symbol engraved in them..." Said Kankuro looking perplexed at the artifacts. "I wonder how the woman ended up with those..."

"That I don't know, Naruto only told me part of the story, he said the woman explained something to him about bonds..."

"Bonds?" asked Temari still blinking in confusion.

"Yes, I didn't quite understand myself but he gave them to me anyway..."

"_That Naruto" _Kankuro thought with a smile "_There's no question about it, he can truly change people around him for the better..._"

"He suggested the three of us to have one each, I was suppossed to only give them to you when the time arrived..." the redhead continued.

"Wait, there's only two, where's the last one?" asked Temari noticing the missing golden ring to which Gaara simply lifted his right arm showing his open hand, a shiny ring caught her eye immediately, it was just like the ones he held for them. "Hey, I never noticed you had that ring Gaara..." she said.

"That's because I never showed it, my robes kept it out of the public eye, and I'm left handed also..." he simply responded "From now on I want you two to wear these, I believe his words were 'Those will keep you, Kankuro and Temari-san out of harm's way as long as you wear them' and for some reason I feel uneasy about this reunion... go ahead and take them, they're yours now"

Both his siblings looked at each other once and nodded before looking back at their little brother, slowly each took a ring from his palm, examining the small objects for a while before wearing it, the Sand kunoichi admired her finger amazed at such shiny ring.

"So these are meant to keep us safe eh? sort of like a charm, since did you start to believe in luck Gaara?" asked Kankuro admiring his ring as well.

"I believe in Naruto's words, that's all that matters, besides..." he turned around and walked back to his desk "I don't want anything bad to happen to you two..."

The Sand siblings half stepped, half jumped backwards, putting a few yards between themselves and the young Kazekage in an instant. They stared at him, a funny shocking expression on their faces, after all this was the first time any of them heard him say such thing, they stood there for a moment, Gaara never turned back to see their expressions, he pretty much guessed how they looked.

"A Kage meeting is not something to take lightly, these kind of meetings only happen when all the nations face a common threat and I have this strange feeling inside telling me to be careful..."

"Why are they doing this...?" said Kakuro once again looking serious.

"Akatsuki..." answered the redhead "They must have captured the other jinchuriki already..."

"Then... Naruto..." said Temari obviously worried.

"No... if they had captured Naruto we would've known already, but I believe they will start looking for him soon..." even if he didn't show it, Gaara felt worried for the blonde as well "You two better get ready, we leave tomorrow at dawn, we'll be there in two days..."

"But Gaara, you're the Kazekage, you can't leave the village..." said the puppet Jounin wondering what his younger brother was thinking, Temari was also thinking about the same thing.

"I also thought about it and I think I know who will be replacement for the time being, he's more capable that even I am for this, all of my powers as Kazekage pass to him once I'm out of the village..." a sudden knock on the door interrupted the reunion of the sand siblings "...Come in..."

The door slowly opened revealing an old man in white robes, long eyebrows that covered his eyes and a turbant to cover his head.

"Ebizou-Jiisama, I was just talking about you..."

"What?????!!!" both Suna Jounin shouted in perfect synchronization.

* * *

"_Found it!_" Naruto mentally noted as he was making his way deeper into the lake, he could finally see what he was looking for, between going to the surface to take some air and diving right back to the bottom to keep looking the time was no more than five minutes, he knew pretty well that staying longer would put at risk everything. Naruto once again reached the bottom of the lake and took a green backpack, the one he recognized as Jiraiya's own and surfaced again for the fifth time that day, luckily the background noises of the rain and crashing water covered his own sounds and kept him under the radar, he scanned the area around him, he could see the village of Ame not too far from where he currently was, the old bridge as well but he could not see Kakashi and the others where they were supossed to be, hiding under the structure, he filled his lungs with air and once again went underwater to make his way under the bridge, at least from there he would have a better view and hiding spot, once there he looked around one more time but to no avail, he was the only person there.

"_Dammit, where did they go?_" he thought. Then he head voices over his head, looking up he noticed people over the bridge talking about something, then fear hit him as he recognized Kakashi's voice, had they been discovered?

"Don't play with me!! We were informed of four Konoha shinobi here, not three, so where's the other one???!" asked an angry guard, Kakashi kept smilind under his mask, he was calm even under such situation.

"I'm sorry to insist but I don't know what you gentlemen are talking about, we were just passing by so if you could please let us be--"

"SHUT UP!!!" one of the guards shouted as he kicked Kakashi in the stomach taking the air out of his lungs, Kakashi coughed up a bit before glaring at his agressor, the Ame guard took a few steps back when he felt a small part of the murderous intent, Sakura and Sai remained silent through this.

"_Shit!_" Naruto mentally cursed "_How the hell did they get caught?_" his friends were on their knees, hands tied behind their backs and unnarmed, to make matters worse, at least twenty shinobi were there, more than half Chunnin and the rest Jounin

"I'll ask once again..." one of the Jounins said taking out a kunai from his own pouch "Where's your blonde comrade? If you'd like me to start torturing you right here then by all means stay quiet" he smiked.

"_So they saw me... hold on guys! I'll save you!_" Naruto thought for a second and submerged back into the water, he made his trademark cross seal and two shadow clones puffed right next to him, then he extended his right hand as the clones started monding chakra on his palm "_I'll have to thank captain Yamato for this later_" he thought.

"*sigh* if you guys should really know..." Kakashi started.

"Yes? go ahead..." the Ame jounin said.

"_No... he wouldn't!" _Sakura thought alarmed.

"_I'm ready when you are Kakashi-sensei..._" though Sai more calmed, three of his ink rats were currently chewing on the ropes holding each of them, luckily the rats were out of the enemy's view and between the wooden planks.

"...What you idiots saw was actually just a clone of myself disguised as a fellow shinobi, nothing else." the copy ninja said amused.

"_That's the best lie he could come up with?_" thought Sakura, frowning inwardly, while her Inner Self screamed, and pulled at her hair.

"Fine tough guy, I'll start by pulling out your only eye then" said the Jounin holding the Kunai

"Wait Toru, shouldn't we hand them to the interrogation squad fist?" interrupted one of the Chunnin observing.

"Oh we will Shogo, we're not going to kill them, just soften them up for the squad so they have an easier time, I don't think Pain-sama will mind since he's not here hehehe..."

"_So they know about Pain as well... I wish we could capture and interrogate one of them but we don't have much time!_" Kakashi thought, he suddenly felt his wrists loose meaning he was free again "_Nice job Sai!_"

"Now let's see how you like yo-- Gaah!!" the Jounin never finished his sentence. In less than a second a hand charged with electricity burst through his chest and now protuded from his back, blood pulsed erratically from the wound as the man's pierced heart spat and heaved in desperate spasms. Everyone in the bridge went into a defensive stance, Sai and Sakura were already on their feet and ready to attack but then the bridge started shaking and all of a sudden a huge vortex erupted from below destroying efectively part of the wooden structure, most specifically where the other Ame ninja were standing, sending them all into the air either unconcious or badly injured because of the sheer power of the attack.

Kakashi knew what had happened, he ripped his arm from the Jounin's chest and the ninja's corpse fell on the water where blood ran freely from the gaping hole in his chest, Naruto jumped out of the water and landed right behind his friends with his back turned making sure they saw the backpack, turning around and smiling he spoke.

"Mission acomplished! Let's go home!"

"Good timing Naruto, you saved me from having to use my Sharingan."

"Heh, no problem!" he gave him a thumbs up and kept his smile. Sakura and Sai felt relieved.

"Well guys, you heard him, let's get out of here, top speed!"

Without another word team Kakashi charged and jumped off over the gate separating Amegakure from the surrounding forest disappearing among the trees as fast as they could.

"What took you?" asked Sai while they moved through the damp forest, the downpour had finally started to lessen, The four ninja moved in a loose diamond formation with Naruto leading the pack, Sai on the left, Sakura on the right and Kakashi on the back covering them.

"What are you talking about? I did it as fast as I could, Ero Sennin's stuff was at the bottom of that lake and I needed to get some air from time to time, which reminds me... how did you guys get ambushed like that??"

"That would be your doing." said Kakashi "You missed one of the guards at the gate and he called for back up, after you went into the water we were surrounded, you were lucky they didn't notice you though..."

"Oh I see, sorry about that guys" he said giving his best grin "I'll get them all next time hehe..." Sakura just frowned

"Don't think I won't report your reckless behavior to Tsunade-sama young man, I told you we would talk about this and we--- LOOK OUT!!!"

Out of nowhere a missile appeared and it was aimed directly at the Konoha team, Kakashi's sudden warning worked as the four shinobi jumped out of the way but to no avail, the missile's explosion caused them to loose balance and they all ended up hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Ugh...Is everyone ok?" Kakashi asked pulling himself up and checking his surroundings.

"I'm ok..." answered Sakura just some feet away.

"I'm ok as well." said Sai appearing right next to Sakura.

"I'm good... what the hell was that?" Naruto responded jumping right next to Kakashi.

"You saved me the trouble of looking for you Kyuubi-child..." the new voice caught their attention and all four shinobi as expected focused on the direction where it was coming from, their eyes widened at the same time in horror at the sight of a four black cloaks with red clouds coming out of the shadows across thirty feet of empty space that separated them.

"Y-You're..." the blonde Genin couldn't finish the sentence.

"Surrender now and I will spare your friend's lives, if you resist then you will know what true pain is..."

* * *

**A/N: If I remember correctly I said there was a surprise coming for this one right?? well, sorry but gotta wait for next chapter cuz it's not actually ready yet, see ya!**


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